Pages

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

queen of transition

I want to detail my experience in transition on Sunday at Musselman, however, first a little update on my pre-IM taper.

I am MOODY! I am not sure if I am moody due to the taper, pre-race anxiety, PMS, or (most likely) the delightful combination of all of these things. Either way, I was texting Kim yesterday and telling her that there is a high probability that I will cry every single day this week. Not cool, but inevitable. I am not really a "crier." Granted, I cried when Charlie died on LOST, I cried through most of P.S. I Love You, and I cry whenever an animal dies, but otherwise, not really.

Anyways, I am going to combat the moodiness the best I can with running, chocolate, etc. :)

Back to the main topic of this blog: transition.

I organzied/worked transition at a local half-IM on Sunday, the day after my own race. I had to get up at 3 am to be in transition at 4:30 am. That's early! (And to whoever saw me there, yes I know I looked like a HUGE tri-dork in my pink compression socks). Anyone who has done a triathlon knows how transition works. Let me begin this by saying that I was impressed by how these Musselman athletes were in transition. I think my day probably went so smoothly because there were a lot less first time athletes at this race than say, the day before, where Eddy had the pleasure of dealing with a ton of newbies. I had no big issues at all for the entire day. However, it was a very long, hot day and by the end I wanted to die.

The best part was obviously watching all of the smiling athletes have great races. (And there were also a TON of hot guys - sorry!). Also there are a LOT of people who take FOREVER in transition - even fast people! The first woman out of the swim must have been in T1 for 5 minutes! Seriously if you are that fast, you need to work on those transitions.. The worst part was the bike cut-off. I had to go get the bib # of a girl who missed the bike cut-off and she was sitting on the ground crying in transition while putting on her running shoes. She asked me if she could still run. I felt so bad for her. I told her that she could run unsupported. I didn't know what else to do, I understood how disappointed she was.

There are some things that I would like to make note of - because often I think that athletes are not aware of what they are doing when they are nervous on race morning.

My tips:

Please be nice to volunteers. I know it's a pain in the ass that you have to get body marked BEFORE coming into transition. Chances are, the volunteer did not make this rule. They are not the one that set up body marking in an area that was not close to transition. Please don't yell at them! They are just trying to keep the race organized and running smoothly.

Seriously, don't be a jerk. Especially if YOU are the one that is running late. Transition opened at 5 am! Why you are rolling in 5 minutes before the race is beyond me.

If a person isn't racing, they can't come in. Think about it - there are thousands of dollars worth of equipment in there. If you can't carry your stuff into transition on your own - maybe you brought too much shit with you! And no one wants kids/dogs/dads with fanny packs running around in transition when they are trying to prep for a race!

Respect the mount/dismount line. Not doing this can cause an accident. You wouldn't want to ruin your race or someone elses race just because you couldn't brake 5 seconds earlier, right?

Don't try a flying dismount for the first time on race day. Although if you do, it will probably be amusing!

If you are a spectator, WATCH OUT when you cross the course. If you MUST cross the course, make sure no one is coming! Those bikes are going 20+ mph and they don't stop on a dime! Also, if you are a smoker, I realize that you can legally smoke outside, but seriously, you have to smoke at a race? AT THE SWIM EXIT??!?! Athletes who have been taking 1 breath every 10 seconds finally get to breathe regularly and the first thing they suck into their lungs after exiting the water is your cigarette smoke. That is just so not cool in so many ways.

And finally, can I just say thank you to all of my volunteers on Sunday! You were all a huge help and did an awesome job! Jeremy rocked the Eggaphone (and I think he made the news!).